The final death throes of Baugur’s retail empire are being very publicly played out, but the brands in which it has stakes should breathe a quick sigh of relief and move on with the business of retailing.

It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good, the saying goes. Never was a phrase more appropriate to describe the vultures circling Baugur’s assets following its spectacular demise.

The downfall of the retail empire, greedily gathered over the past decade, is more than likely to lead to someone else making off with the proceeds of the Viking raider’s gains.

As exclusively revealed by Retail Week, the investor was forced to stymie state-controlled bank Landsbanki’s attempts to push its UK holdings in to administration by filing for the Icelandic equivalent of Chapter 11 yesterday.

Even if Baugur outlasts the three-week stay of execution granted by the Icelandic moratorium, it is unlikely that anything will be salvaged for the fallen Icelandic raiders.

The chilly winds that have been blowing between Iceland and the UK since Gordon Brown enforced anti-terror laws to freeze collapsed Icelandic bank Landsbanki’s assets in the UK, will have plummeted to new temperatures after yesterday’s news.

Baugur chief Jón sgeir Jóhannesson – who shuns media scrutiny – ranted yesterday that Landsbanki’s decision will offer up the Icelandic group’s assets on a platter to “British vultures” for “nothing”.

However, there is little sympathy for Jóhannesson and Baugur, either at home or at its adopted home. Baugur built its house upon the sand – debt – and used that debt to acquire other businesses. It has paid the price.

Jóhannesson – the blond-locked golden boy with the penchant for black – has gone from symbolising the ballsy Icelandic pioneer, to becoming the whipping boy, charged with helping to destabilise the country’s economy.

However, as in the Icelandic Sagas, where one chapter has come to a close another set of raiders has risen up to stake its claim. A new Icelandic government has been heralded in and it has been suggested that a no-nonsense approach has been enforced to repatriate funds. Either way, Baugur looks like it is on its way to unravelling and becoming the new Sears.

But UK retailers should welcome the move, which signals an end to the uncertainty surrounding the future of their financial backing. The changes are, in effect, little more than a change in shareholdings. In practical terms, the news does not change much in a process that has been continuing since Baugur's debts fell in to the hands of the creditors to collapsed Icelandic banks Glitnir, Kaupthing and Landsbanki in October. It makes the complicated ownership of the debt and equity somewhat clearer and puts them in play.

The Baugur-backed brands, which include House of Fraser, Mosaic, All Saints, Whistles and Jane Norman are all good businesses. Staff should be reassured that the likely administration of Baugur does not necessarily precede an administration of their businesses.

Both PricewaterhouseCoopers – drafted in by Landsbanki to oversee the impending administration of Baugur’s subsidiary BG Holdings – and Landsbanki itself say that they are not planning a quick-fire sale of the assets.

It is inevitable that the ownership of some of the UK’s best-known retailers will change hands in the coming months, but it may even be in the coming years if Landsbanki wants to realise longer-term value from an asset.

Most Baugur-backed retail management yesterday reiterated their distance and independence from the investor. Again, they have acted swiftly and rationally. This leaves them and their staff to focus on the job at hand: the business of retailing.